Insurance Limits

I came across a really interesting article from a case in the Missouri Court of Appeals.

An out-of-state driver carried insurance in an amount less than Missouri's statutory minimum limits, but his policy required that those limits would increase to meet Missouri's requirements. The party injured in an accident caused by the out-of-state driver settled with that driver for an amount equal to those increased limits. The trial court nevertheless concluded that the out-of-state driver was an uninsured motorist and therefore entered judgment in favor of the injured party and her husband and against their insurer for their full uninsured motor-vehicle policy limits. The Court held that the driver was not an uninsured motorist and therefore reversed the trial court's judgment.

I am not sure that I agree with this decision from a plaintiff's perspective. I would have hoped that the Court of Appeals would have sustained the lower court's ruling. Essentially, what happened was they allowed an out of state driver and insurer to run with a lower liability limits which affected a citizen of the State of occurrence.

Recently, I am dealing with a similar situation for a motor vehicle accident. I was forced to go uninsured for my client because the policy did not carry a bodily injury limit. This really hurt my client's case, and it is good that there is uninsured on the policy.

Oh well, I guess State Farm made out on that one.